# Lector - Read Faster — Speed reading that keeps time

> Speed reading that keeps time (iPhone/iPad app by Cupertino Tech Labs Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lector-read-faster/id6807418777 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Cupertino Tech Labs Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1509454079)
- Category: Books, Productivity
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 6 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-09-08
- Data updated: 2026-10-09
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lector-read-faster/id6807418777/reviews.md

## What is Lector?

Lector is a speed reader that respects punctuation.

Every RSVP reader flashes one word at a time at a fixed rate. That is what makes them
fast, and also what makes them exhausting: a full stop goes by in exactly as long as
the word "the". Lector weights the time each word holds — 1.8× at the end of a
sentence, 1.4× at a clause, a little longer for long words — on a scheduler that
corrects its own drift and never silently skips a word. Sentences keep their shape at
speeds where they normally dissolve.

TWO WAYS TO READ

Flash mode holds each word still in the centre of the screen. Nothing moves, so your
eye never has to chase anything, and this is the mode that works at the top of the
speed range.

Ticker mode scrolls the line continuously past a fixed mark, so you can see the words
either side of the one you are on. Turn the phone sideways, and you get most of the
sentence. Some books read better one way, some the other, so Lector remembers which
mode you used for each book.

CONTROLS YOU DON'T HAVE TO AIM FOR

Press and hold anywhere to pause, let go to resume. Hold either edge to skim at up to
3× and release to drop back. Pull down while holding to latch that faster speed so you
can let go. Nothing here needs you to find a small button while words are moving.

YOUR OWN BOOKS

Import EPUB, PDF and plain text files, or paste text straight in. Lector reads the
book's own table of contents, so you can skip the front matter and jump between
chapters. PDFs get their running heads stripped, and their line-end hyphens rejoined,
because "extraor- dinary" is not two words. "Open in Lector" appears in the share sheet
in Files, Mail, Safari and anywhere else, including for DRM-free library downloads.

You can also point the camera at a printed page. Text recognition happens on the device,
several pages at a time, and Lector keeps the words rather than the photograph.

A GOAL MEASURED IN MINUTES

The daily goal is minutes read, not words. A word target rewards winding the speed up
and skimming, which is the one habit a speed-reading app should not encourage. Read
five minutes and the day counts towards your streak; hit your goal, and you bank a
streak freeze, which is spent automatically on a day you miss.

EVERYTHING STAYS ON YOUR PHONE

Lector has no servers, no analytics, no accounts you must create and no third-party
code of any kind. Your library never leaves the device — not as a feature you switch
on, but because there is nothing in the app that could send it anywhere. Export a
backup to a single file whenever you want one, and restore it later; that file goes
wherever you choose to put it.

ALSO

• A home screen widget with today's minutes and your streak
• Live Activity on the Lock Screen while you read
• Spotlight search that finds your books and their chapters by name
• Hold the middle of a word to look it up without losing your place
• A history chart by week, month or year, against your goal
• Bionic emphasis, if bolded word-openings help you
• Dynamic Type throughout, plus five reading sizes on top of it
• Optional daily reminder that stays quiet on days you have already read

Lector is for iPhone and needs iOS 17 or later.


## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.0.2 — 2026-09-10

Fixed: restoring a backup could erase notes and highlights
If you restored a backup while a book was still in your library, Lector removed that book's
bookmarks, your notes on them, and any footnotes it had found in the text. That was a bug
in 1.0 and 1.0.1, and it is fixed here.
If it happened to you, you can get your work back. Restore the same backup file again on
this version — your bookmarks and notes come back, and anything you have marked since is
kept too.
Restoring only ever adds. It never removes a book, and it never moves you backwards in one.
Also in this release
• Deleted a book by accident? Shake your phone to undo it. The book comes back where you
  left it, with your bookmarks and notes.
• Fixed a crash that could happen on the library screen, the history chart and the widget
  if a backup contained an unusual reading time.
• Fixed a delay of up to half a second when opening Progress or refreshing the widget.
• Before a restore, Lector now shows you what the file holds — how many books and sessions
  it would add, and how many are already here — so you can decide before anything changes.
• Importing a book you already have now asks, instead of quietly making a second copy. Open
  the one you were reading, add another copy to keep a separate place in it, or cancel.
• Opening a book you have read before is quicker. Lector works out where the words are once
  and remembers it, instead of doing it again every time.
• Swiping while the text is moving now replays the sentence and keeps going, which is what
  it was always meant to do. It used to stop and wait for you to press play.
• Your library appears before Lector does its start-up housekeeping, rather than at the
  same time.
• A few smaller fixes: the day you last read is now saved in your backups, a reading mode
  from a newer version survives being restored into an older one, and a book containing
  certain emoji next to Japanese, Chinese or Thai text is counted correctly.
Still no account, no analytics, no ads, and nothing about your books leaves your phone.

### 1.0.1 — 2026-09-09

New screenshots. Nothing in the app itself has changed in this version.

### 1.0 — 2026-09-09

No release notes.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-09.*